Butkovitz prevails in City Controller Democratic primary

City Con­trol­ler Alan Butkovitz ar­rives at a post elec­tion cel­eb­ra­tion at the Palm res­taur­ant in Cen­ter City Tues­day after Butkovitz was re-elec­ted. (Brad Lar­ris­on)

Start­Frag­ment

In a sur­pris­ingly lop­sided out­come, City Con­trol­ler Alan Butkovitz won the three-way Demo­crat­ic primary elec­tion on Tues­day night.

Un­of­fi­cial re­turns from 95.73 per­cent of di­vi­sions showed that Butkovitz was win­ning 61 per­cent of the vote.

Brett Man­del was tak­ing 31 per­cent.

Mark Zecca had 8 per­cent.

Butkovitz, a Castor Gar­dens res­id­ent, is seek­ing his third four-year term. He was first elec­ted in 2005 after serving 15 years as a state rep­res­ent­at­ive.

In 2009, Butkovitz sur­vived a tough, three-way primary with Man­del and John Brax­ton.

Man­del, a former dir­ect­or of fin­an­cial and policy ana­lys­is un­der Con­trol­ler Jonath­an Saidel, raised a good bit of money for the re­match, but nev­er seemed to gain the trac­tion he had in ‘09.

In ad­di­tion, the low turnout be­nefited Butkovitz, who had the sup­port of the party and uni­ons.

In the gen­er­al elec­tion, Butkovitz will face Re­pub­lic­an Terry Tracy.

If Butkovitz wins, talk will start to swirl about a pos­sible may­or­al run in 2015.

In oth­er races, the party-en­dorsed can­did­ates were faring very well.

Fernandes, of Somer­ton, and Mc­Caf­fery, of East Tor­res­dale, were backed by the party.

Coyle, of the Far North­east, is a Re­pub­lic­an who did not have the party nod, but she be­nefited from the top bal­lot spot.

The fi­nal spot is up for grabs. Si­erra Thomas Street leads Dawn Tan­credi, the at­tor­ney rep­res­ent­ing neigh­bors op­posed to a meth­adone clin­ic at Frank­ford Av­en­ue and Dec­atur Street, by 489 votes.

In the Demo­crat­ic primary for three seats on Mu­ni­cip­al Court, party-backed Mar­tin Cole­man and Henry Le­wan­dowski were run­away win­ners. Judge Fran Shieds, a Lawndale res­id­ent ap­poin­ted to the bench last Ju­ly by Gov. Tom Corbett, pulled away from Tracy Ro­man for the third slot.

In the Demo­crat­ic primary for three Traffic Court seats, party-backed Omar Sabir, Donna DeR­ose and Marnie Aument-Loughery won hand­ily. DeR­ose, of Fox Chase, had a strong show­ing des­pite be­ing lis­ted next to last on the bal­lot.

Phil­adelphia Dis­trict At­tor­ney Seth Wil­li­ams was un­op­posed in the Demo­crat­ic primary. So was Re­pub­lic­an Danny Al­varez, a law­yer from Somer­ton.

McVay trailed much of the night, but burst in­to the lead when votes were coun­ted in the west­ern part of the state. He topped Wa­ters, 55 per­cent to 45 per­cent, with 98.91 per­cent of the votes coun­ted.